Antigonish County residents and the piping community of Eastern Nova Scotia paused for a few moments in mid November to mark the passing of one of the region’s best known and most respected Highland gentlemen.

A farmer, fisherman, carpenter, and boat builder, Angus Allan Macquarrie was keenly active in his church, community, and regional affairs. Angus was very proud of his Scottish heritage. A Gaelic speaker, bagpiper, and fiddler, he was a devoted supporter of Highland culture and tradition.

Angus Allan Macquarrie was born in Doctor’s Brook, Antigonish County, Nova Scotia on January 27th, 1918, the son of piper Angus Hector and Mary Elizabeth (Gillis) Macquarrie. His grandfather, pioneer John, a noted piobaireachd player in his own right, died when Angus Hector was only twelve years old.

In 1889, when Angus Hector was in his mid twenties, he took his mother back to Scotland, staying for more than a year. It was there that he learned more of his family’s piping tradition and picked up a large repertoire of tunes which he brought back to Nova Scotia.

Exposed to the music of his ancestors from birth, Angus Allan’s love of the pipes was evident by the time he was four years old when he used to march around the house with a set of mock bagpipes under his arm, the alder drones extending skyward over his left shoulder, a make-believe chanter in his hands, humming the tunes he heard his father and uncle Dan play so often. Growing up to be both a piper and a fiddler, Angus was able to trace his piping lineage back through nine generations to the Hebrides of Scotland.

First and foremost to Angus were his family and his livelihood as a fisherman. Even though his days were labour-filled, when summer came, he was known to take a few hours off, dress in his kilt, grab his pipes, and head into town to take part in the Antigonish Highland Games. Spectators were often heard to comment in amazement on the sweetness of the music he produced with his big, strong hands, callused from years of hard work. Though he did not compete often, in 1943, he placed first in the Amateur Strathspey and Reel, and placed second in the same event in 1944.

In his early years, Angus, along with his brother John Stephen, Joe ‘Miller’ and Jay MacDonald, began playing at dances and picnics. Later, he played the pipes and the fiddle as a member of ‘The Highland Four’ which also featured his friends Jay MacDonald, Wilfred Gillis, and John ‘Roddie Angus’ MacDonald. The group was popular throughout the region at dances and concerts and in the late 1940s frequently performed live on CJFX Radio.

Pipe music was different in those days, Angus would often say. The notes might be the same, but the tempos and rhythms were different. He talked a lot about the old style of piping, piping for step dancing, and for the Four-Hand Reels and the Eight-Hand reels, 4s and 8s, he called them, that were danced at the picnics, dances that ended with the piper encircled by sweat-drenched dancers.

In 1946, Angus was a founding member of the Antigonish Highland Society Pipe Band formed under the direction of Pipe Major Herman Beaton of Brierly Brook.

In the spring of 1966, the band dropped the name of the Antigonish Highland Society altogether and became the Antigonish Legion Senior Pipe Band. It was late that fall that I was to join Angus and the others in the pipe section of the Senior band, then under the direction of Pipe Major Jim MacLellan.

The highlight of 1967 was the band’s performance for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson. As Warden of the County of Antigonish, it was Angus’ pleasant task to escort Her Majesty to Arisaig where the HMS Britannia was waiting and to present her with a large, freshly caught salmon, packed in ice in a large wooden box made especially for the task.

In 1970, the senior band placed second in the Maritime Senior Pipe Band Championship and took part in the very first Antigonish Highland Games Pipe Band Tattoo. As the Antigonish Legion Junior Pipe Band rose in prominence, the senior band declined and disappeared by 1971. Angus, however, remained a devoted fan and supporter of piping in Antigonish.

Over the following decades, though he no longer played at the Games himself, other musicians who did often found their way out to the Macquarrie home for a ceilidh after the competitions and concerts in town had finished. Son Marcie remembers fiddlers such as Dan R. MacDonald, a relative, or Winston Scotty Fitzgerald, or pipers such as Bill Magennis, Bob Worrall, Barry Ewen, or Dr. Angus MacDonald at the house. On one occasion, Angus entertained several members of the Edinburgh Police Pipe Band whom he had taken fishing during their visit to Nova Scotia.

Angus was always on hand to encourage the efforts of his family and other young pipers, drummers and dancers. His son Marcie became a piper. His daughter Janice went on to win international acclaim as a Highland dancer, dance teacher and choreographer.

In November, 1996, the Piobaireachd Society of Antigonish was formed, and Angus was a founding member. It was at his suggestion that the Society began sponsoring Pipers’ Memorials throughout the County, honouring the memories of pipers of bygone days, first in South River, then in his own parish in Arisaig, and last June in Maryvale.

As the young pipers of Antigonish town and county and beyond came to perform at the Society’s monthly recitals and the Pipers’ Memorials, Angus was always on hand to give them words of encouragement. He watched and listened with pride as this new generation of pipers learned and performed piobaireachd, the ancient classical music of the Great Highland Bagpipe, the music of his fondly remembered and distinguished ancestors, and the young pipers responded by playing their best ‘for Angus’.

Angus was devoted to his ‘bride’ of 57 years, Jennie (Gillis), his nine children, and his numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren. Two of his grandsons, Hector Macquarrie of Halifax and Jonathan Grady of Summerside, PEI are excellent young pipers and are consistent prize winners, carrying on the tradition of which Angus was so very proud. Angus was keenly interested in their music, and would often sit with the boys on their visits to his home in Doctor’s Brook going through his collection of old pipe music books, giving them tunes his own father and grandfather used to play.

Angus made seven trips to Scotland over the years, some of them accompanying his daughter Janice when she went there to claim world honours. In August, 2002, Angus made his final trip back to Scotland, to support his grandson Hector as he piped his way to several prizes, and to visit once more the Isle of Eigg from which his ancestors left to settle in Nova Scotia. Angus’ father had placed a stone on the cairn of his ancestor, Donald Macquarrie, Am Piobaire Mor, the Great Piper of Eigg, in 1889 and Angus first placed another stone on it himself nearly a hundred years later, in 1972. He was there too as his son and grandson added their stones to the cairn in 2002. When young Hector won first prize and the Lamont Shield for his march at Cowal, Angus had a smile on him that spread from ear to ear.

At the age of 84 years, Angus passed away at the QE2 Health Science Centre, Halifax, following a brief illness, on November 9th. His death was a peaceful one, with his beloved family members present, and with Hector playing the ‘old tunes’ on his chanter for hours on end during his final few days.

The funeral mass took place in St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Arisaig on November 13th. Pipe Major Doug Boyd piped the remains into the church playing "50 Years of Bliss", a march composed by the late Arisaig fiddler, Wilfred Gillis to mark Angus and Jennie’s 50th wedding anniversary. At the end of the mass, Kendra MacGillivray on violin and Doug Boyd on pipes played grandson Hector’s composition, "Angus Macquarrie’s Reel". Grandson Jonathan played "Flowers of the Forest" at the graveside. Andrea Boyd, John MacPhee, Hector and Jonathan played selections on the pipes at the reception which followed in the community hall.

A few short days later, Jonathan played his own piobaireachd composition, "A Farewell to My Beloved Grandfather", believed to be the first piobaireachd ever composed in Antigonish, at a meeting of the Piobaireachd Society of Antigonish. All in all, it was a fitting musical send off to one of Antigonish’s most highly respected Highland gentlemen.